James Fawn (born James Simmonds; 1847–19 January 1923) was a British
music hall comic entertainer, popular towards the end of the 19th century when he was often billed as 'The Prince of the Red Nosed Comedians'. His best known song was "
Ask a P'liceman
"Ask a P'liceman" (sometimes given as "If You Want to Know the Time Ask a Policeman") is a music hall song. It was first performed in 1888 by English comedian James Fawn, and was written by Edward William Rogers (1864–1913) and Augustus E ...
".
Biography
He was born in
Paddington
Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Padd ...
, London, as James Simmonds,
[ the son of a tailor, Henry Simmonds. He first worked as a stage actor, and then as a comedian, in the mid-1870s, and regularly worked in ]pantomime
Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...
with Arthur Roberts. The two sang duets, alternating verses.
Fawn developed a reputation as one of the best impersonators of a drunken person. Dressed in top hat
A top hat (also called a high hat, a cylinder hat, or, informally, a topper) is a tall, flat-crowned hat for men traditionally associated with formal wear in Western dress codes, meaning white tie, morning dress, or frock coat. Traditional ...
and tails, he would pretend to be drunk and parody the "leisured classes", hiccup
A hiccup (scientific name ''singultus'', from a Latin word meaning "to catch one's breath while sobbing"; also spelled hiccough) is an involuntary contraction ( myoclonic jerk) of the diaphragm that may repeat several times per minute. The hi ...
ing as he sang. One of his most popular lines was to claim that "... it must have been the lobster I've eaten as I've hardly drunk enough to drown a fly!".["James Fawn (1850-1923)", ''Monologues.co.uk'']
Retrieved 2 September 2020
His most successful routine, "Ask a P'liceman", sometimes given as "If You Want to Know the Time Ask A Policeman", was first performed in 1888 and was written by E. W. Rogers and A. E. Durandeau. The song was "filled with references that reflected the Victorian working-class mistrust of the officers of the law",[ Richard Jones, "If You Want to Know the Time Ask A Policeman", ''Jack the Ripper Tour'', 22 March 2018]
Retrieved 2 September 2020 and made fun of the frequent claim that, if arrested for drunkenness, one's pocket watch
A pocket watch (or pocketwatch) is a watch that is made to be carried in a pocket, as opposed to a wristwatch, which is strapped to the wrist.
They were the most common type of watch from their development in the 16th century until wristw ...
was likely to go missing at the police station,[ with the line "Every member of the force / Has a watch and chain, of course." The sheet music of the song reportedly sold some half a million copies within three years of its publication.][Richard Anthony Baker, ''British Music Hall: an illustrated history'', Pen & Sword, 2014, , p.141]
He performed over 150 songs during his career. His other songs included "The House that Jerry Built", and "Not Wanted". Fawn performed at Gatti's Charing Cross Music Hall
The Charing Cross Music Hall was established beneath the arches of Charing Cross railway station in London in 1866 by brothers Giovanni and Carlo Gatti, to replace the former Hungerford Hall. The site had been acquired, together with Hungerf ...
in 1890, and it has been suggested that that is the occasion on which Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work.
...
based his story ''My Great and Only'', in which the narrator (based on Kipling himself) presents a song he has written to a leading performer looking for new material.[ David Page, "'My Great and Only'", ''Kipling Society'', 17 February 2007]
Retrieved 2 September 2020
Fawn died in 1923, and a report at the time described him as having "a juicy kind of humour... holeft the broader kind of salacity" to others such as Arthur Roberts. ''The Bulletin'', Vol. 44 No. 2251, 5 April 1923, p.38
/ref>
He was married to Emily Margaret Norrington in 1866; they had a daughter. After his wife's death, he married Emily Ash ( Tomlin) in 1891.
References
External links
List of songs and monologues
performed by Fawn
Image
at Dropbox
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fawn, James
1850 births
1923 deaths
Music hall performers
British male singers
English comedians